2011 Home Winter Project List

Well, blogger friends, we’ve been laying a little low on the home improvement blog posts and projects recently. With the holidays, we decided to keep things low key and enjoy our home with close friends and family, and then wait until the new year to start up on projects again.

So, what’s next at Our Sound Home? There is LOTS more to come in the next few months!  Here is a recap of what we’re hoping to accomplish over the next few months this winter.  Let’s break things down list-style:

Winter Interior Projects:

• Our first major home renovation project after the holidays - the bathroom remodel.  The bathroom is the most dated looking room in the whole house, and it’s also the bathroom used most by our guests on the main level of the house, so it’s at the top of our Home Project List. This project will include taking down the sea shell wall paper, painting, switching out or raising up the vanity and getting a new sink (we’re looking forward to finding something with a higher counter since Kyle and I are both so tall), getting a couple new light fixtures, and either changing or framing out our existing mirror. The overall project sounds pretty big, but we’ll accomplish it in “small bites,” keeping you all updated on the blog along the way. Here are a couple sneak peeks of the current state of the bathroom:

 

  

• Make a decision regarding two of our major light fixtures. When Kyle and I first saw the home at the open house, we thought these light fixtures were super ugly.  The actual fixtures were brown looking, the glass looks kind of cigarette-nicotine stained, and then if you look at them against our old flesh colored paint, it really just looks awful and just brown…brown…brown.  After we painted the dining and living room, it really changed up the space and gave the light fixtures a bit more contrast. Take a peek at these before and after pictures since we painted:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

     We’ve also cleaned the light fixtures and it turns out the actual metal is more of a silver color and not so brown (we think it’s oil buildup from when they had an oil heater – super gross wiping off lots of dirty brown stuff – yuck!).  To complicate things, we learned from our home inspection that the lights are potentially worth some good money, so we could sell them and then purchase light fixtures we really love. So, we’ve got a decision to make. For now, I think we’ll wait a little longer until we get artwork up on the walls and get a better feel for what this space is really like with it fully decorated.  I have to admit they are growing on me.  What are your thoughts on these bad boys?

• Take action on our laundry situation! We have a washer and gas powered dryer upstairs (only the washer works), and another set downstairs (only the dryer works).  I would really like to have the working versions moved downstairs and get rid of the malfunctioning washer and dryer all together. This will free up space in our little room off the kitchen, which I would like to make into more of a mudroom / pantry area.  Having the dryers be gas powered means it’s a little more complicated to move them, but we’ll work it out. Once we move the laundry machines downstairs, we’ll also need to change up our flooring in this room. We noticed recently that the laminate flooring doesn’t go all the way back to the wall where the laundry machines currently are located. Maybe we’ll take up the laminate, do a little sanding, and make use of our hardwood floors? Stay tuned for this project!
  
• More Paint Please! Kyle has me convinced we need to do some additional painting – we’re thinking a cranberry color for one of the walls in our entertainment room on the main floor. I also want to paint a wall in our bedroom, and think about painting one of the walls in the hallway upstairs.
  
  Stay tuned for our Spring Home Project To Do List – coming soon!